Washington • The part of tax law that prohibits houses of worship from engaging in explicit political activity will remain intact for now — despite concerns that Republican lawmakers would try to repeal it in the latest massive federal spending bill.
The more than 60-year-old law, often referred to as the Johnson Amendment, bars churches and other tax-exempt organizations from endorsing political candidates. Some conservatives — mostly evangelical Christian leaders and a few Republican lawmakers — have advocated for its removal in recent years, and a 2017 bill from the House Appropriations Committee included a provision largely defunding IRS efforts to enforce it.